Tag: food preservation (Page 6 of 6)

From Trash to Treasure: Chocolate-Dipped Candied Orange Peel

January 27, 2010 / Lindsey / 8 Comments

Chocolate-Dipped Candied Orange Peel, (c) The Herbangardener

First of all, I have to say that since I made these chocolate-dipped candied orange peels over the weekend, I have NOT been able to stop eating them — they’re just the perfect combination of chocolate and orange, a flavor combination which I love. They are just SO GOOD!

And I can’t get over that they’re made with the orange peels that you’d normally toss into the trash or compost heap! Besides that, the fact that they’re dipped in chocolate means that you stretch your chocolate further, while still getting your chocolate fix! All in all, a delightful & unusual treat that can be made for not much money at all.

Chocolate-Dipped Candied Orange Peel, (c) The Herbangardener

Don't toss 'em...Eat 'em!

Start by saving your orange/mandarin orange/tangelo/clementine peels. I store mine in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days while collecting enough to use. You can store them in the freezer, but if they’re in there too long the texture suffers and the peels become mealy; I like to stick with the fridge.

Also, I use peels from organic mandarin oranges. I feel it’s important that the peels be organic, since the highest concentration of pesticides is present in the peels of conventionally grown fruit.

First you’ll cook your orange peel in boiling water for about 15 minutes. This seems to mellow out the bitterness. Then you’ll candy it with a honey-water solution (takes about an hour), let the orange peels cool (10 minutes), and then dip them into melted chocolate and refrigerate for about 10 minutes until set. Easy!

Here’s the recipe:

Chocolate-Dipped Candied Orange Peel

2 -3 cups of orange peels, cut into pieces (I used mandarin orange)

1/4 cup water

1/3 cup honey (or 1/2 cup regular sugar or rapadura)

About 2/3 to 3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used basic semisweet chocolate chips, but another idea is to chop up a special bar of chocolate)

First, put the orange peel into a pan and cover with cold water (you’ll use the 1/4 cup of water & honey a little later). Bring to a boil and boil gently until the peel is soft, about 15 minutes. Drain.

Now, bring the 1/4 cup of water and honey to a boil. Add the peel. Boil gently on low heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally. This takes about an hour. When the peel is sodden and the syrup is almost gone from the bottom of the pan, take the peels out and put them onto a cookie sheet to cool.

When the syrup is almost gone, the peel is done.

Transfer the wet peel onto a cookie sheet to cool.

While the peels are cooling, put your chocolate into a double boiler to melt over hot water. (Don’t melt chocolate over direct heat because it tends to burn. I don’t have a double boiler, so instead I just use a metal bowl set over a small pan of simmering water.)

When the chocolate has melted, dip the lower half of each orange peel into the chocolate and set on a cookie sheet. (You can line the cookie sheet with wax paper, but I didn’t.)

Chocolate-Dipped Candied Orange Peel, (c) The Herbangardener

Put the cookie sheet into the fridge for 10-15 minutes to allow the chocolate to set. After cooling in the fridge, the peels will come off just fine with a flexible metal spatula. Though, if you don’t have a flexible metal spatula, you may want to use the wax paper so that you can just peel them off. If they don’t come off very easily, allow the cookie sheet to sit at room temperature for several minutes; they should peel right off then.

I found that storing them at room temperature was just fine, as long as you don’t put a lid on the container; I noticed that they got a little soggy if I kept the lid on. But if having an open container of chocolate orange peels on your counter is just too tempting (uhh, yeah!), you can put them in a sealed container in the fridge — they don’t seem to get soggy then. You can also just as easily store them in the freezer (I have some in the freezer right now), and snack on them directly from there.

Since this recipe produces a large tray full of decadent treats made with what would otherwise be trash…I feel that it deserves a place in this week’s Pennywise Platter Carnival over at The Nourishing Gourmet.

Make Your Own Bubbies Pickles

November 15, 2009 / Lindsey / 370 Comments

Have you ever had Bubbies? It’s the brand against which all other pickles are judged, at least in our house! My hubby is a huge fan. And if you like garlic, you’ll probably appreciate Bubbies, too. They’re not made with vinegar, but rather are made the old-fashioned way, though lacto-fermentation in brine. (I have a Bubbie’s Bread & Butter Chips pickle recipe too, which is made with vinegar.)

So for my very first attempt at homemade pickles, I turned the Bubbies jar upside down, identified which spices were in there, selected what looked like a good lacto-fermented pickle recipe, and hoped for the best as I sacrificed a couple of humongous garden cucumbers for the Great Pickle Experiment.

The results were shocking…in that I was shocked I had made something so tasty and convincing on the very first try. I certainly had expected the worst. In fact, I thought Hubby was being sarcastic when he tried the first one and told me they were awesome. He couldn’t stop talking about them! I was skeptical until I tried one, too. YO! Later, I did a taste test of my pickles compared to Bubbies; I actually liked mine even better! In the photo above, I used my large garden cucumbers, but to get the true Bubbies experience, go for the really small cukes; I find these at the farmer’s market, or at ethnic grocery stores. Go for organic if you can (which would be an upgrade from Bubbies, since theirs aren’t organic). Of course the really big cucumbers are fine to use, but because of their size, their insides won’t be quite as firm and crunchy as a smaller cucumber would be, and their skin will be a little tougher.

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Lindsey’s Bubbies Pickle Recipe:

1 gallon glass jar or ceramic crock

1/2 a gallon of warm water (tap water is fine)

A handful of fresh, clean grape leaves, oak leaves, or cherry leaves (optional — they supply tannins to keep the pickles crunchy) (UPDATE: raspberry & blackberry leaves work too, but have a stronger flavor than grape leaves)

3-4 lbs of cucumbers (small to medium is ideal, but if all you have is large, cut them into spears)

5-6 Tbsp non-iodized sea salt. I use Redmond RealSalt brand unrefined sea salt. (I usually prefer 6 Tbsp. Using 5 Tbsp of salt will yield a less salty pickle that my hubby prefers, however you may have to contend with more white film, or “kahm yeast,” on the surface of the brine during fermentation. More about kahm yeast in the instructions.)

2 – 3 heads of garlic, separated into cloves, peeled, & roughly chopped

3 Tbsp whole dill seed

2 Tbsp whole coriander seed

1 tsp whole mustard seed (brown or yellow, doesn’t matter)

1 tsp whole peppercorns

1 tsp fennel seed

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

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Ingredients for Homemade Bubbies Pickles. My homegrown garlic was a little small, so I used 4 heads.

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Directions:

Rinse the cucumbers, making sure the blossoms are removed. Soak them in very cold water for a couple hours (if they’re not straight off the vine).

In a separate clean jar (not the one you’ll be using for the pickles), dissolve the salt into the 1/2 gallon of warm water. Set aside — this brine will be one of the last things you’ll add.

Into the clean, gallon jar/crock you’ll be using for the pickles, drop in the garlic, dill, coriander, mustard, peppercorns, fennel, and red pepper flakes.

Then, put the cucumbers into the jar. If you’ve sliced large cucumbers into spears, pack the spears vertically into the jar.

Pour the salt water solution (a.k.a. the brine) over the cucumbers.

Now, place the cleaned grape/oak/cherry/raspberry/blackberry leaves into the jar. My jar has a somewhat narrow mouth, so the grape leaves form a nice plug at the top of the jar so the cucumbers (which will rise to the top after you pack them in) don’t go above the brine.

You want your cucumbers (and leaves) to be completely submerged in the brine at all times. If they’re sticking up above the brine, they’ll get moldy. If your jar has a wide mouth, you may need to use a couple of plates to keep everything submerged. Another idea is to nest a smaller glass jar into the opening of the larger jar to keep everything down. Or, use a scrubbed & sterilized rock.

Homemade Bubbies Pickles, (c) The Herbangardener

Using nested jars to keep everything submerged.

Fermentation rock, Homemade Bubbies Pickles, (c) The Herbangardener

Another idea: use a rock to keep everything submerged.

If the brine still doesn’t cover the cucumbers, make more brine solution using: 1 scant Tbsp sea salt to one cup of water. Cover your jar with its lid (loosely), or with a cloth to keep bugs & dust out. If you see a thin film of white scum growing on the surface of the water, just skim it off as often as you can, but don’t worry if you can’t get it all. This is “kahm yeast;” it won’t harm anything, but do try to keep up with it otherwise it can affect the flavor of your pickles.

Sometimes, during pickle making, some of your garlic cloves will turn blue. This is not a problem. The Colorado Extension Service website says this about blue garlic:

Blue, purple or blue-green garlic may result from immature garlic or garlic that is not fully dry, from copper pans, or from a high amount of copper in the water. Garlic contains anthocyanin, a water-soluble pigment that under acid conditions may turn blue or purple. A blue-green color also may develop in pickles made with stored red-skinned garlic. Except for blue-green color resulting from an abnormally high copper-sulfate concentration, such color changes do not indicate the presence of harmful substances.

Your pickles will be ready after 1-4 weeks — depending on the temperature in your house. Our pickles are usually ready after 10 days on the counter in our warm apartment (average of 80-85°F) in late summer. Every couple days, do a taste test of your pickles. They’re ready when they taste done to you! Once they taste done, transfer the jar into the fridge to slow fermentation. Once they’ve fermented and are in the fridge, you can remove the grape/oak/cherry/raspberry/blackberry leaves and you don’t need to worry as much about the pickles being completely submerged in the brine.

Enjoy! These will last months and months in your fridge. I once kept a batch around for 9 months and it was still good.

And the brine is good stuff too; I like to drink it straight. It’s full of beneficial bacteria and good for your digestion! Since it’s salty, it would be especially good after a workout.

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Nourishing + Frugal: Homemade Applesauce

September 16, 2009 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Homemade applesauce is one of my favorites for breakfast or a snack! And it’s SO EASY TO MAKE! Organic applesauce from the store is pretty pricey (especially at the rate I go through it), and the taste and texture just don’t compare with homemade.

We’re lucky to have a local health food store that puts out their markdown organic produce in $1 grab-bags. So when they put out bags of organic apples, I snatch ’em up to make applesauce. That means I can make 3 or 4 lbs of organic applesauce for only a dollar!

Here’s how I make my applesauce:

1. Dice the apples into small pieces. I leave the peel on for texture and nutritional value.

2. Place the pieces in a saucepan with a dash of salt (optional) and a small amount of water. For 2 or 3 chopped apples, I usually put in about 1/4 cup of water.

3. COVER the pan, bring to a boil, and turn the burner down to low. Cook the apples until they’re very soft, stirring once or twice. This shouldn’t take long…maybe 10 or 15 minutes.

4. When they’re very soft and can easily be mashed with a fork, dump them into a colander to drain off excess water.

5. Return the apples to the pan, and mash them against the side of the pan with a fork. You could also run them through a food processor, but I really like the chunky texture of hand-mashed applesauce.

6. I enjoy my applesauce just plain, or sometimes with 1/2 & 1/2 (or cream) and a sprinkle of cinnamon. So delicious! Use your imagination…try toasted nuts on top for a more substantial meal. Or you could also make applesauce bread!

7. The applesauce doesn’t last that long in the fridge — maybe 5 days, tops. However, this applesauce freezes quite well, and I’ve also canned it with pretty good results (I prefer the freezer, though).

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday over at The Nourishing Gourmet.

Make Your Own Pickled Grape Leaves

August 1, 2009 / Lindsey / 15 Comments

Ingredients for making pickled, lacto-fermented grape leaves

Have you ever eaten Dolmas (or “Dolmades”)? I absolutely love them! Dolmas are a delicious Turkish finger food made by stuffing pickled grape leaves with a filling made from rice, onion, parsley, olive oil, spices, and various other things. Sometimes they’re also made with meat.

A couple years ago, I created my own recipe for Dolmas that doesn’t use rice, but rather shredded zucchini, as the main filling. I ought to make that recipe more often, since it’s one of my favorite things to eat! I’ll post my recipe for Zucchini Dolmas soon (UPDATE: here’s the recipe), but today I’m going to show you how to make your own pickled grape leaves — which you’ll need for the Dolmas. (You can also just buy pickled grape leaves in a jar, which is what I used to do, until I recently discovered how much cheaper and more fun it is to make my own!)

Grape leaves are plentiful and ubiquitous, so you shouldn’t have much trouble finding them. If you don’t have your own grape vine, just take a walk down any random alley, and you’ll probably find at least one vine spilling out over someone’s fence. (You could ask first before picking of course, but if the vine is trailing into the alley — or hanging over a public sidewalk — it’s in the public domain.) The grape leaves I collected were from a vine in my alley. Choose leaves that are young enough to be tender, but large enough to stuff with filling, and clip the stem close to the leaf.

The grape leaves we’ll be making are pickled by way of lacto-fermentation, rather than vinegar. Lacto-fermentation is a traditional way of preserving fruits & vegetables by harnessing the power of lactobacilli bacteria, which are present on the surface of all living things. The bacteria convert plant starches & sugars into lactic acid, which is the preservative. The lactobacilli themselves also improve the vegetable’s digestibility, as well as boost its vitamin and enzyme levels.

Pickled Grape Leaves

24 grape leaves

1 Tbsp sea salt

4 Tbsp whey* (if you don’t have whey, use an additional 1 Tbsp salt)

2 cups water, filtered if you have it

Wash the leaves well, and stack them neatly together.

Put water, salt, and whey in a big bowl and stir. Soak the leaves in the liquid for about an hour, weighting them down with a plate.

Soak the leaves for about an hour, weighted down with a plate.

Roll up the leaves and stuff them into a pint jar. Pour in enough liquid to cover the leaves, but leave 1 inch of space between the liquid and the top of the jar. Cover tightly, and leave on the counter for about 3 days. Then, transfer to the fridge, where they’ll keep for quite a while. I had mine in the fridge for about 10 days before using them.

* Whey is the clear, yellowish liquid strained off when making yogurt or cheese. Don’t use powdered or commercial concentrated whey!

Pickled grape leaves